Swimming in the Stars
by Wistful Winds
Summary: Sometimes, when the river flows past sluggishly and the star-birds are silent, Neji Hyuga finds himself wishing he'd never met Tenten. Never known the happiness and the love, so he wouldn't miss it as much as he does now. So he wouldn't drag himself through 364 days, looking forward to that one night when she will cross the river on the wings of magpies. AU, Nejiten.
1. Chapter 1

**Swimming with the Stars**

**Summary: In a retelling of the story behind the Japanese celebration, Tanabata (evening of the seventh), Tenten and Neji Hyuga are two stars who find themselves very much in love- and very much forbidden, by both Tentei, the sky god, and Hiashi, leader of the Hyuga Cluster. Nejiten definitely.**

**A/N: So, according to the lunar calendar, Tanabata is on August 13th, and I started this multi-chap story to celebrate. Kind of. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Silk thread clicked rhythmically in the machine as Tenten weaved, occasionally stopping to run her hands through the clouds and smell the fresh breeze coming off the river.

_It must look really nice to the humans down there_, she thought, looking over the bank and watching the river as it swirled by, carrying star-fishes and the occasional tiny planet.. The clouds below the river parted obligingly, and she could make out tiny fields with even smaller farmers, hard at work. For a moment loneliness overtook her and she sighed, the normally cheerful smile dropping from her face.

"Tenten!" a voice called from over the hill, and she quickly started weaving again.

"How are the kimonos coming along?" The man, wearing one of his daughter's own yukatas, settled down by the river.

"They're great," Tenten bubbled, plastering a fake smile on her face. Not that it would fool him.

"Tenten, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned. "Is it the cloth? Should I get better quality silk? Or do you not like this scenery? I can have a pond made, with real human-world koi, and gardens. I'll get star flowers planted, or-"

"No." Tenten cut him off abruptly. "Is that all you care about? Me making clothes for you and the stars? No, you don't get it," she snarled when he tried to speak. "You think all that matters is my weaving. I love weapons, sniping, but I have no time for it! And I'm lonely!" Tenten panted for a moment, shocked that she'd finally let out her feelings, before whirling away and heading back to the palace, leaving her completely dumbfounded father staring after her.

* * *

"Listen, Tenten." Tentei stood outside his daughters rooms, trying desperately to get her to understand. "I don't like it either, but you know all the stars have to have the best clothes to shine, you know how important it is for the whole galaxy, the universe. And you know how quickly they burn through them, especially the sun."

"Go away, dad."

"Tenten, I need you to do this, you're a princess, you were born to this. Can't we just talk face-to-face? This kingdom needs you, and-"

A shuriken abruptly tore through the rice-paper doors.

_Well then. If playing on her sense of duty won't work, I'll have to result to bribery..._

"I'll get you a friend," Tentei called. "And then you can weave while you talk to them."

"Will you really?" The doors finally slid open a crack, Tenten's surprisingly childish face peeked out, tears still running.

"Yes! I will look for one right now, and by tomorrow he will be waiting for you at your usual spot. Why don't you go to bed now?" Tentei smiled, relieved, and hurried to the nearest exit, debating between finding a star from the Uchiha or the Hyuga cluster.

* * *

Hiashi Hyuga knelt with the Sky Lord, in his very best rooms, feeling very much irritated and annoyed and any other synonyms.

"I've told you, Lord Tentei, I have no stars to spare. And I'm sorry there are no Uchiha available, but my people are all busy."

Tentei wrung his hands. "Come on, Hiashi, just one person. Even a suggestion would work."

_Anything to get this guy out of here when I had to push back eight meetings. _"There have been two living on our grounds for the past few years. Misters Gai and Lee-"

The doors burst open and two stars rushed in, wearing the most ridiculously green yukata Tentei had ever seen.

"You called, my youthful landlord?" the taller, older one boomed, sticking out a thumbs-up. "My student and I shall be happy to help! YOSH!"

Tentei considered them for only a moment before smiling and jumping up. Two was even better than one. "I like your energy. How would you both like to make a new friend? My daughter is in need of a friend, so-"

"Yes, yes, please discuss this outside," Hiashi muttered, pushing them out, motioning at his assistant to bring in the next person.

Gai and Lee happily packed piles of green yukata and moved onto the Sky Cluster's compound, chattering about youth all the way.

Tenten will love her friends, Tentei thought happily as the green pair sobbed over their youthfulness.

**A/N: Instead of clans, all the characters are stars so they are in clusters :) Well, I haven't taken that much astronomy but I think there are star clusters out there... **

***Cough***

**Reviews would be lovely :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**And now we skip forward a month...**

"Hanabi!"

Neji groaned, awoken by Tokuma's enraged shout.

"Hanabi! Get over here and clean up this mess!"

_No chance of getting back to sleep now_, he thought irritably, climbing out of his warm, comfortable, soft bed. Pulling on a robe, he padded down the hallways to brush his teeth, take a shower, and grab a bite to eat before heading down to the cow pens.

"Big herd today," Ko, the keeper, greeted him when he got to the pens. "Lots of cows just born. Take 'em all out to the sky pastures over there," he pointed West, "human night's due any moment now."

"Right." Grabbing his staff, Neji started herding them towards the wide-open, midnight blue fields.

"Oi! They're near the Milky Way River, don't let them fall in," Ko called after him, and Neji nodded slightly.

Standing with open pastures on one side and the river, Neji kept one eye on the cows as he prepared to start his daily training. He didn't want to be stuck as a cowherder forever; there was a prestigious job he'd been aiming for, with the Protection Corps. They had the honor of guarding Lord Hiashi, and sometimes Sun. Best of all, they helped to create the moon every night.

Everyday, while he waited for the cows to complete their constellations, he went through all of the positions he'd been able to get a glimpse of. The Protection Corps sometimes trained in the gardens and Neji would watch and remember every single move.

_Breathe. Strike. Triple step. Pause, breathe. One punch, an uppercut-_

The routine was abruptly interrupted by loud laughter, drifting over the water. A girl with the most curious hairstyle, accompanied by two men in brilliant green clothes, skipped to the bank and put down a machine. She began to weave, talking animatedly to the older man. The younger one had climbed to the top of the hill and seemed to be looking for something.

More out of curiosity than anything else, Neji called on his power and activated his byakugan, the secret technique Hyuga Cluster was known for.

"So I've started this new design," Neji read the girl's lips as his vision magnified, "and I got stuck here. Should I continue with a star pattern or flowers?"

"No need to keep up the pretense for now, my Tenten," the man said. "Lee has confirmed that the eagles have stopped following us."

Tenten. What an amusing name.

"Oh, goody," Tenten said, abruptly dumping the pile of fabric and jumping up. "Let's get started then, shall we? What's the target today, Gai-sensei?"

Another weird name.

"I think these boards shall do just fine, youthful flower. Now, I'll put them here, and here, and here..."

Tenten totally captured Neji's attention then. The way she would be standing so still and then suddenly have weapons flying everywhere, yet strike the wooden boards in exactly the middle- it was amazing, to a star who'd only seen glimpses of a hand-to-hand fighting style. Obviously her mentor agreed. He ran at her and hugged her, crying tears of joy.

Neji barely managed to catch his words. "That was so beautiful, so youthful! YOSH! Lee, let us run laps of happiness!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" the one on lookout cried, and they disappeared over the hills.

Neji stared for a moment, amazed at their idiocy, before starting towards Tenten. She was throwing more and more weapons, huge,sharp pointy things Neji didn't even have a name for, and chuckling to herself. Neji had almost gotten close enough to talk to her when a great sploosh! erupted behind him.

Cursing the stupidity of the cows, Neji ran back to rescue a drowning calf, leaving Tenten looking around for the source of the noise.

**A/N: So basically the idea here is the cows are the stars we humans see, and the dark blue fields are the night sky... And so the "people" or characters in here are main stars, like big huge ones, like the north star. Since they're too bright to shine at night star people use cows. So yeah.**

**And thanks so much for the feedback, I'm going to try to work on the summary (Ichigo-chan/guest) and thanks for giving this story a chance, Reider. Thanks to the two other guests too :3**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Your reviews made me dance to Irene's Tune, the violin solo from_ A Scandal in Belgravia _(Sherlock Holmes). Thanks so much! This is a bad chapter but school's starting soon :(**

Tenten set up her machine again, putting on the silk threads, continuing her work from...a week ago, maybe. She hadn't really been making kimonos lately, just pretending to when her father or one of his guards was around. It probably wasn't good (she _knew_ it wasn't good), but at least she sometimes worked on it at night, in her room.

"Have you noticed the cowherder who watches us daily, my youthful flower?" Gai suddenly brought up, as Tenten threw weapon after weapon at circular wooden boards stationed on the hill where she pretended to weave. They landed with thuds and, satisfied, she wiped her hands, smiling.

"Of course I've noticed him. He's kinda cute." She blushed slightly, and quickly coughed. "Anyway. I was thinking I could go meet him today when he brings those cows out. I'd like to know his name."

"Then Lee and I shall be runnning laps," Gai said, winking. "Have fun, my youthful blossom!"

Before Tenten had time to ask him just what he was talking about he'd already sprinted away, leaving dust clouds in his wake. She shook her head and turned to collect her weapons only to bump into something hard.

"Sorry about that," a deep, masculine voice murmured, and Tenten was staring into the pearly white eyes of the cowherder.

* * *

Neji had crossed the river on hidden stepping stones, ones he'd found a few days ago; he'd been waiting for a chance to use them, but first Tentei had paid a visit, almost finding out Tenten had been practicing instead of sewing, and then he'd been assigned to a different pasture for a while. Finally, today Gai had seen him and gotten everyone out of the way so he could cross in a few jumps and wait for her to notice.

"My name is Neji," he said, bowing slightly, formally. "Of the Hyuga Cluster."

She stared up at him, startled, for another moment, and then smiled warmly. "Tenten. Sky Cluster. Um, I've seen you with your cows, and, um. Hi."

_Awkward silence..._

"I've noticed that you've been practicing throwing weapons. Any interest in sniping? I have rifles if you'd like to try."

She looked up with wide, chocolate-brown eyes- Neji noticed just how much taller he was, compared to Tenten- and gasped excitedly.

"Do you really have rifles? Luckyyy, I only have these random knives." She indicated the various sharp and pointy things lying around. "I tried sniping once. Years ago. I'd love to try again," she said wistfully.

"Come to my side of the river," Neji offered. "I've got a storage shed filled with unused guns and stuff. Though," and he can't keep the tiny traces of bitterness out if his voice, "they aren't exactly mine, they're my cluster's."

Neji saw Tenten glance at him curiously, but she smiled and stepped toward the river anyway. "Then, let's go." She felt for the first stepping stone, hopping nimbly from the bank, and Neji followed carefully.

"Now then, position your arms like this," Neji's hands brushed against Tenten's skin lightly, correcting her stance, moving her arms up slightly. His breath drifted past her ear, and a strand of his hair rested lightly on her shoulder. For some reason it sent little butterflies careening through her stomach, crashing into the walls.

_I blame the thrill of finally holding a gun after all this time_, Tenten told herself. _It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this is one of the only guys not related to me that I've had contact with._

"Now take aim," Neji said quietly, standing back a little. "When you're ready just pull the trigger."

"Mhmm..."

_Although_, she mused as she peered through the scope and adjusted the silencer,_ Lee and Gai never had this effect on me._

_Ah well_.

There was a satisfying pop as the bullet hurtled through the air and embedded itself in the middle of the rough-hewn wooden circle Neji had set up three hundred meters away.

"Yes!" Tenten grinned at Neji. "Bull's eye. Haven't missed a single time so far. Next rifle?"

He chuckled slightly and picked another one out of the pile they'd made in the field.

_It doesn't matter. He's turning out to be a great friend._

At the end of the day, when Tenten had tried out all the different types (not missing a single time), she hopped back over the river with a promise of, "I'll be here tomorrow too, and I'll bring lunch."

Gai was waiting, hands on hips, smiling brightly. "Well, my youthful flower, how did it go?"

"He let me try his rifles and- oh, gosh, I totally forgot about making clothes!" She rushed frantically to her abandoned machine, picking up the threads- only to stop when she noticed that the pattern was completed.

Gai chuckled and patted Tenten's head. "Lee has watched you work the machine for a while, flower. He figured out how to do the pattern, though we couldn't quite figure out the hem."

"Gai, you're awesome!" She wrapped him happily in a huge hug, and then gathered the strings inside her basket. "I owe you big time. How about I make you dinner when we get back? I'll make dinner for you too, Lee, thanks so much!"

Cooking at the small stove, directing Lee and Gai to wash the carrots and cut some potatoes, Tenten couldn't help thinking, _It'd be perfect if Neji were here too; is it weird that I already consider him a best friend?_

"Lee, don't those throw away!" she suddenly shouted, saving a pile of sliced cucumbers. "Oh my gosh, Gai, don't cut the chicken into such small pieces!"

But even as she rolled her eyes in exasperation, Tenten remembered white opalescent eyes, slightly glowing in the moonlight.

_Stop thinking like that_, she told herself, as she put down plates of chicken, fish, and fried rice on the wooden table in her room, Lee and Gai setting up the plates. _Why am I so obsessed with this guy? _

**I should probably get a beta reader... Reviews would be wonderful :3**


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